The Darker Side | Chapter 7 | Rise of the Sith

LORD VADER, RISE

By the title of this entry, you may safely presume that this is when Anakin Skywalker became my Sith Apprentice. Finally!

I sat in my office reading over some of Coruscant’s energy consumption reports when I sensed the Jedi enter the building. I became giddy when the significance of the moment overwhelmed my mind for a moment. At long last, the Sith would rise again and reclaim the galaxy.

I stared at the reports, but my mind was distracted with the arrival of the elite Jedi who would attempt to arrest me. Focus, Palpatine, I remember telling myself. Time seemed to move slowly, but eventually, Master Mace Windu stepped into my office with three other Jedi Knights—Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin. They tried to arrest me but instead I caught them off guard and slaughtered three of them within seconds. What they failed to realized is that despite my mature appearance, I can still wield a lightsaber two to three times faster than a pathetic Jedi with remarkable precision.

Of the four Jedi assassins, only Master Windu proved to be a formidable opponent whose skill with a lightsaber matched my own. I could sense his patient resolve as we dueled. It was quite annoying.

When I sensed Anakin’s presence in close proximity to us and realized he was about to enter the room, I became momentarily distracted. The Dark Side of the Force was fighting for supremacy within Anakin, and at that very moment I knew what I had to do.

I let Windu kick my lightsaber out of my hand. It went flying out the window. He advanced with his purple lightsaber and I withdrew to the corner of the open window, making sure my cries of desperation carried into the hallway Anakin ran through to get to us. When he arrived, I tried to convince Anakin that I had been right all along and the Jedi were taking over and trying to kill me, but I don’t think he believed me.

This was not good.

Windu tried to arrest me, but as you can imagine I wasn’t having that. As Anakin listened, trying to assess the situation, I played the victim and faux-cried for help and mercy from him. Master Windu caught me off guard when he told me that the oppression of the Sith would never return, and that I had lost. Refusing to accept his convictions, I reacted without thinking. Dark plasma energy ignited the air between us as it leapt from my hands and charged at him with intense ferocity, but he skillfully deflected the blast with his lightsaber.

It seems I underestimated Windu’s knowledge and perspective of the Force.

Windu folded my Force Lightning back at me, and I felt my own rage surge through my own body. It was like an adrenaline rush that tingled and flashed over my exposed skin. I screamed out that I was the only one who could save Padmé, and Anakin’s emotions surged. I was winning. Playing the victim again to deceive the emotionally distraught Anakin, I claimed I was too weak. I begged for mercy (loathsome as that may be) as Windu’s thoughts (surprisingly) shifted and he decided to murder me.

Anakin refused to allow that.

He ignited his lightsaber and swung up, cutting off the lightsaber wielding hand that Windu swung at me. I suppose that Anakin intended to block Windu’s blade with his own, but in is agonized state, he missed, and that’s how Windu lost his hand. When the Jedi Master screamed at me in agony, I blasted him with unlimited and raw Dark power. Then I defenestrated him. Needless to say, there’s one less Jedi Master in the galaxy to deal with now.

Anakin immediately filled with regret and collapsed on the floor. In some ways he is still the small boy I met years ago—whiny and petulant. But, he was finally fulfilling his destiny. I pushed myself up from the floor and stood tall over Anakin’s crouched form. I invited him to join me and become my Apprentice. He accepted on one condition—that I help him save Padmé.

Sure, Anakin, Sure.

This is when I told him that the power to cheat death had still yet to be discovered. It is the one thing that Darth Plagueis had not fully taught me and I needed Anakin’s help to discover it for myself. I don’t think he put two and two together—that I didn’t actually have the knowledge to save Padmé yet—which is good. Then he pledged himself to the teachings of the Dark Side. The Dark Side swirled around us and settled deeper in his being.

Thirteen patient years of masterful planning, encouragement, careful guidance, and friendship finally propelled us to the glorious penultimate step of the Grand Plan: Anakin aligning with the Dark Side to rule the galaxy at my side.

And that’s when the Force bestowed upon me the name of my new Sith Apprentice. Henceforth, Anakin Skywalker will be no more. The Dark Lord of the Sith will be known to all throughout the galaxy as Darth Vader.

SECURING THE GALAXY

Lord Vader rose to his feet and embraced his destiny. I could sense a small struggle with his new role and title, but I also sensed an amazing clarity that came with the surge of the Dark Side through his being. After a sobering moment, I made sure that Darth Vader understood the Jedi’s next move would be to extinguish the Sith, and then, the Senate. We agreed the Jedi are relentless and would move quickly.

I declared all Jedi—including his mentor Obi Wan Kenobi—were now enemies of the Republic. I ordered Lord Vader to go to the Jedi temple and execute every Jedi he found with extreme prejudice, reminding him that if we did not take drastic actions the galaxy would have a civil war on its hands.

No hesitation! No mercy!

Then, when he had finished cleansing the Jedi Temple, I sent him to the Mustafar system to exterminate Viceroy Gunray and the rest of the Separatist leaders. After this, would we finally have peace through the galactic rule of the Sith.

ORDER 66

As Anakin made his way to the Jedi Temple to purge it of treasonous Jedi, it was time to activate the secret contingency plan that I had devised years ago that would guarantee their extermination: the Clone Protocol, also known as Order 66—my special contribution to the clone army. Some people refer to Order 66 as the famously decisive event that ended the Clone Wars because the clones of the Grand Army of the Republic turned against their Jedi commanders and terminated them, ending the Jedi’s proliferation of the unnecessary war. But in truth, Order 66 was my design.

Remember that about ten years prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas had secretly ordered the clone army for the Galactic Republic, having sensed the potency for a full-scale civil war. He had the foresight to know that the Republic would need to defend itself against the Separatists and other crazy folk.

Dooku, working with Sifo-Dyas, had provided the Kaminoan cloners with a special bio-chip and instructed them to replicate and implant the bio-chip into every clone as they were created. Once activated, the bio-chip ensured total obedience in the clones and cause them to view the Jedi as dangerous threats who needed to be eliminated immediately. At one point this strategic ploy was nearly exposed when it malfunctioned in a clone trooper identified as Tup, but we managed to take care of him and those who learned of these critical and important plans for galactic security. Now, with the bio-chip installed in every clone trooper, all I had to do was initiate a voice command and the clones would become completely obedient to me.

And so, this is how the retaliation against the Jedi came to pass. I initiated contact with the clone trooper commanders and simply ordered them to “Execute Order 66.” This would free them from their traitorous Jedi commanders and allow them to eliminate the Jedi who fought along side them (but secretly plotted to take control of the Republic for themselves). Numerous Jedi perished on the battlefields of many different worlds, and any Jedi who came into the presence of a clone trooper after I activated the protocol would be dealt with swiftly as the clone troopers now viewed the Jedi as a threat to be destroyed immediately and without question.

Anakin, I mean, Vader, now a Sith Lord, would not be harmed by the clone troopers under his command. He marched on the temple with a battalion of clone troopers behind him and slaughtered the helpless Jedi within it. I was confident that any who managed to escape would be dealt with.

The death toll within the Jedi Temple here on Coruscant and the Jedi Masters spread throughout the galaxy caused the Force to buckle and convulse in a manner I had never experienced before. In fact, the only time since the Clone Wars that has ever happened again is when the Force reacted to the destruction of Senator Bail Organa and Princess Leia Organa’s home planet of Alderaan. As the bright lights of the Jedi were extinguished across the galaxy, the Force heaved as it settled in darkness, preparing the way for the leadership of the Sith.

THE NEW ORDER, DAY ONE

I asked Mas Amedda to gather the Senators for a special session of the Senate. I was ready to initiate the final step of the Grand Plan.

Once gathered, I delivered my best oration and sensationally revealed to the captive audience the true, evil nature of the Jedi and the attempt on my life that left me scarred and deformed. After elaborating on the Jedi’s secret ploy to overthrow the Senate and the its successful defeat, I promised that I would direct the resources of the Republic to hunt down and kill the remaining treacherous Jedi. It was also time to accomplish the pièce de résistance of my plan—the reorganization of the Republic into the first Galactic Empire—all under the banner of safe and secure society. My announcement was met with thunderous applause.

Normally I would have celebrated with my Inner Circle of semi-trusted sycophants, but there was much to do. After all, I had just initiated the Galactic Empire and I had to see to the urgent matters of authority and control. For example the Regional Governors (all preselected by me, of course) needed to be empowered to ruthlessly stamp out any sign of unrest and wipe out any Jedi they discovered.

After my address to the Senate was complete, the podium tower retracted and I worked from my office underneath the Senate Hall. While making the many arrangements, Lord Vader contacted me and confirmed the death of the Separatist leaders. I didn’t sense his usual feelings of regret during our brief call. But just to be sure, I reminded him that his actions had restored peace and justice to the galaxy, inflating his sense of importance. Then I ordered him to message the Trade Federation’s ships and implement the immediate shutdown of all droid units. I would not allow any reprisal from them. Next, I dispatched fleets and battalions of Clone Troopers to the more troublesome regions of the galaxy. With the war ended, pacification efforts needed to begin.

Some time later the Force snapped (I sensed this despite the fact that the Force was still reeling from the extermination of the Jedi) and I paused to meditate. I sensed Padmé had joined Vader on Mustafar. Good. All things were coming to be has I had foreseen. Anakin would be distracted once again by her. And then I sensed someone else with him…

Kenobi!

Blast!

Somehow he survived Commander Cody’s blasters. No matter. Vader would turn against his Master and destroy him. I could feel Vader’s anger surging within his soul. This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of the Jedi and it will soon see the end of Kenobi.

And that’s about when I heard the Royal Guard bounce off the metal walls of my office. I turned and saw Master Yoda limping into my office. Feeling disgusted, but happy to have the chance to kill him, I blasted him with the same rage that dispatched Mace Windu. The plasma connected and sent Yoda flying into the wall. I wondered how he liked the feeling of being smashed against a metal bulkhead. Mas Amedda left the office quickly, not wanting, I assume, to be caught in the middle of a battle to the death.

When Yoda stood, he had the audacity to use the Force and send me flying across the room. The nerve of him! I suppose, tit for tat, I deserved that. But still. I didn’t expect it from him. I thought he was too old and weak. Yoda lectured me about my faith in the Dark Side. And just what did he know about it? Had he embraced a larger perspective?

Yoda turned out to be a big challenge in a small green body. His knowledge of the Force and skill with a lightsaber were amusing, but he was no match for the Dark Master of the Sith. We ended up fighting in the chambers of the Imperial Senate. His jumping and flipping around became nauseatingly annoying but I was so amused by his attempt to stop me that I couldn’t keep myself from laughing. For added fun, I started throwing Senate pods at him. He jumped and dodged them with skill. Now that was funny! I wished one of my aids was there to see it. We would have had a great laugh about it later. So many times before I had wished I could have thrown an annoying Senator to his or her demise…perhaps I will do this one day in the near future. After all, I will need to make examples of any dissidents in the Senate.

Yoda caught one of the last pods I threw at him. I found this particularly entertaining. He started spinning it round and round and then threw it back at me. I ducked at the last minute and fell to another pod. Momentarily distracted, I didn’t see him Force jump up to the pod I had fallen to. I blasted his lightsaber out of his hand and then blasted him. The little green snot absorbed the energy with his hands and then returned my bolt back to me. That was a surprise. It exploded between us and sent us both flying. And that’s when I lost him. Clone troopers arrived to hunt him down but couldn’t find a body…which means he’s still out there, alive and well.

Blast, again.

When I was finished with Yoda, the Force twisted and I focused on Vader. I sensed he was in danger and needed help. He must not have been doing well against Kenobi.

Triple blast. I left for Mustafar immediately. I was not going to lose my newest, most powerful Apprentice yet. I used the Force and willed him to live.

MUSTAFAR

Arrived on Mustafar. Found Vader extremely burned and nearly dead. The Dark Side surged through him as his hate, anger, pain, and suffering, kept him alive. My troopers secured him with a medical capsule and we’re heading back to Coruscant. Not happy. Too annoyed to write. Need to design a life support system that looks like menacing armor. Not a lot of time.

(I’ve purposely kept the retelling of this moment short because that accurately describes how I felt in the moment.)

FINALLY, ALL MINE

I’m a bit calmer now. Vader will live if we act quickly. My shuttle is speeding toward the newly renamed Emperor Palpatine Surgical Reconstruction Center for Vader’s emergency surgery. Following ancient Sith tradition, I have designed a mobile life-supporting suit of armor that is visually intimidating and fearsome—a terrifying presence to be reckoned with. I have reintroduced lost methods of Sith alchemy in the suit that will serve to augment Vader’s potentially diminished physical strength and vitality, as he now will have four artificial limbs. He will have to wear this armored suit from here on out to compensate for the mortal injuries he suffered while dueling Kenobi.

I have begun to realized that Vader is now more machine than man, but it will not stop his ability to serve me as my Sith Apprentice. I should point out, the armor will encase Vader completely and leave no (burned) skin exposed. Unfortunately, the suit cannot be constructed with the peak technology of the day due to the shortness of time.

Vader’s surgery went well. The artificial limbs, life support systems, and armor came together in a harmony of function and intimidation. You must understand, there just wasn’t enough time to create something more elegant or aesthetically pleasing. I’m sure too, that it will be uncomfortable to wear. This will continuously cause him pain and suffering, which will make him stronger in the Dark Side and easier to manipulate. All this makes him more suited to my needs. Vader will now be less likely to rebel against me and he will serve me well as my enforcer.

When Vader regained consciousness, he asked about Padmé. I told him that in his rage, he killed her. He went ballistic and started screaming and yelling. Using the Force, he nearly destroyed the entire wing of the medical center. I was glad to see, that despite his mechanical limbs, he could still wield the Force with ease. I couldn’t have been more happy.

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